Yuu is a plain, boring, college girl from the countryside who is often made fun of for her outdated looks. One day Yuu happens to be invited to see a play. She discovers a passion for the stage she didn't know she had, and is determined to become a part of it. This is her drama.

Type

Manga

Related Series

N/A

Associated Names

ملك الغد明日の王様明日的王样내일의 왕님Ashita no OusamaKing of TomorrowTomorrow's King

But in that being said it did have its faults. First off the good, this manga is truly one of those hidden treasures you find. The emotions were so real, the insecurity that Yuu-chan felt wasn't one dimensional, it really puts to shame the shojo we have going around now days. It was not predictable mostly because there was nothing to predict, but the whole journey of discovering the path Yuu and her friends take was completely unconventional. But I didn't really like the ending i thought it was rushed, though the closing statement was beautiful it was the whole leaving-for-a-different-country that i didn't like. The romance WAS slow, it was almost non existent and by the time i realised what was happening Yuu-chan was getting kissed, it was so unexpected! Not the person but when it happened. This manga was great, left a lastly impression but not the best manga out there.

If you begin reading this with hopes of a shorter Glass Mask, throw those expectations away and start with a blank slate. In Ashita no Ousama, Yuu's dream begins to take shape within the first few pages. As the well paced story develops so does her dream. Instead of a heroine with a narrow view of a perceived dream, Yuu is willing to widen, or switch roads altogether, to find her true dream and achieve it. She shows both the dependency on peers and self-relience that anyone would expect from a college student who dives headfirst into a world she's never experienced before. As for the romance between Yuu and Ishii, it takes a distant second place to the plots' focus. Don't be put off by this if you're a romance reader; the subtleness of it adds to the manga's attraction.

The cover art looks fine, and the summary may sound a tad boring(sounds a bit like the typical cliche...country girl become city-chic) but it's actually not too bad. The main character's very extraordinary in the sense that her enthusiasm seems to be bottomless. I actually quite like her. She's has a very bright and open personality that just draws other people to her, whether they like her or not. The most interesting part to this series, which I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned or not, is that

Spoiler (highlight to view)

Yuu's goals deviate from becoming an actress, which we've already seen in other series such as Skip Beat, etc. to becoming a screenwriter.

I thought this was very interesting, because usually the main character will stick to the first goal and doesn't change.

I was also a bit surprised by the romance in this series. It's actually very secondary to Yuu's main goals and while it does progress, it never overshadows the main plot, which is Yuu reaching her goals. Well, maybe I shouldn't have been so surprised. This is josei, and not shoujo, after all.

All in all, this was a pretty good read. I feel like it does have a lot of shoujo-like qualities(at least in the character Yuu), but much of the storyline itself(such as character development, etc) are more josei-esque than anything. A fascinating read, and I think I will take up one of the reviewer's suggestion to read Cat Street.

Wow....another series that made me read for more than 4 hours for 6 volumes. My normal reading speed is 1/2 hour per volume. But literally, I felt this volume was longer than 6 volumes. So much dialogue, yet so much story and character dept as I continue reading.

The art doesn't look pretty or anything at first glance, but don't let that turn you down. The story will take a huge role over the art because you will find yourself hoping for what's next. The story doesn't drag out or anything. Every chapter is a stepping stone to the next with no feeling that it was a filler chapter.

Characters....character developments is a 10. Here, the prodigy is someone who is working hard toward her dreams and she finds support from the people around her. She have her failures, but we can't help but cheer her on.

Though the art is not good, but the plot, the characters, all of them make this manga more and more beautiful and valueable. This is one of the first josei manga that have strong effect to me, every every words the main character talked to her descent grandma touched the deep core in me. it's so touching. Even more, this josei manga is so pure (no smut, only one or 2 kisses in the whole manga), the romance is so light but we can see it obviously :")

I mainly started this for the josei romance part and there was only very very little of it. For me not enough to justify the tag.The topic of theater and film industry was the major and isn't really my stuff (except for Bushin Gikyoku) thus the setting wasn't my kind of taste... neither the drawing style. Too simple eyes. I like them more expressive. On top I couldn't even stand one of the characters there (Kazuma Rin). He appeared to me like a cunning dork and I couldn't even stand to see his face.

The development of the involved characters is steadily progressing and drives this story. They display and describe their own obstacles clearly with ways to overcome them without much dramatization (just what you'd expect from a josei). It's the strong point of this manga but also its weak one. Honestly it often bored me. Everything went so smooth after all.There wasn't enough emotional depth or interaction with each other but for business. The few romantic moments (2 in all 6 volumes to be precise) came somewhat out of the blue and disappeared like they appeared into nothingness without further comments. Private relationships were totally neglected but that would actually shape characters and make them appear human/real. This manga fails in that. But if you aren't looking for something like that anyway, then I'd suggest you try 1-2 volumes and if it's to your liking stick to it but don't expect anything lovey-dovey.

Mmmh... I felt that this story was very interesting because it was about the personal growths of everyone in it and how their various interactions and personalities affected how they evolved. And also, how they managed to face all the obstacles with the help of others.

Also, it was fun as it was mainly from the viewpoint of a character who has the drive and determination to succeed. I wouldn't say that she had everything easy but rather, through her hard work, stubbornness and belief in herself, she managed to overcome life's obstacles instead of being bogged down by everything else.

And I was really glad that there wasn't too much romance or drama in this story because love conflicts usually don't play out that well, if you're trying to aim for a serious and "not too dramatic" approach towards a storyline. There was, of course, a bit of romantic tension but it was just enough to propel the storyline and not enough to drag it down.

Also, I think one of the points the author was trying to illustrate through Kina was that sometimes, it doesn't pay to sacrifice everything for a person and that you don't always get what you want because love isn't always about "how long you've been there", "the amount of sacrifices" but "how well you connect" and "how much of the person you're actually looking at".

That said, it was quite well-done and interesting. My only issue was that there just weren't enough of the "scenes from plays" being shown but that's okay because it's all from the viewpoint of a director, no?

IMOH, this manga is plain average, heroine is dull and the romance is bleh, but my biggest disappointment were in the fact how the author have dealt with yuu's career. everything work for her like magic, and some problems were solve in very unconvincing way(yuu's stolen story), and the manga-ka did not bother to illustrate the plays for us reader to feel that yuu really deserve her success. and lastly reading the summary i thought that I'll be reading story of a career woman not some pathetic woman making the guy the central of her life and dreams.

overall i think it has a very natural, sort of flowing feel to it. the romance is very natural, and there is no overly dramatic moments or problems. it seems that yuu rises quickly, but it still feels alright in my opinion because there is subtle time skips, and the special something that she puts into her plays. i love her enthusiasm and love for theatre, and how she rarely lets someone bring her down. her attitude is refreshing.

now, for the downfalls..

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i felt it had a lack of closure. she goes off to england with touya on a whim, and as PrincessVera says, the love rival's interests aren't even revealed, so what was the point in having them? (although i did like touya's jealousy >cute!< and how yuu responded to kira! haha!). i didn't like that their relationship was never really established, and feelings weren't said, although in their defense it was so heavily implied no one could mistake it.

i'm sure i could think of more, but.. oh well.. i agree with much of what PrincessVera said, but i wouldn't judge it that harshly. ;P

i thought the artwork was gorgeous, and yuu was drawn very pretty. the lead guys were also nice to look at. the kabuki guy was also very pretty..

it seemed like one of those mangas such as cat street, but shortened. so i'd say it's worth your time. not as brilliant, due to the shortness, but a decently satisfying read. take the most harsh critisms and the greatest praise for this manga, and you'll get what you're in for. :]

This series is a very normal old-style shoujo: a girl (Yuu) follows a dream and finds love (Touya) along the way. It's fun, uplifting, and cute. That being said, although it's a fun read, I don't get much out of it. You don't get the appeal of a character who is or grows into a mature, experienced adult woman. I went to school in literature and writing and have a successful career now... and I can't relate to any of her struggles!

The biggest problem is that Yuu does not have a single significant failure. The story is about the progression of her career, not of her personality or relationships. Too bad there is never a significant obstacle to her career. Bumps in the road and nails in her tire don't give her flat tires or even bended bumpers, they just slow her down for a moment. It's a drama about drama which lacks drama:

Spoiler (mouse over to view)

The one play she was in, where she tripped and messed up, turned out successful. She makes a more successful version of the play which was 'stolen' from her. Even though her scripted episodes of the TV show were going downhill thanks to the actors, she wows everyone with the best episode ever.

Her directing always goes well. She becomes famous after a very few plays. If the story's about her career, she shouldn't become an instant star, even if she knows famous people. This manga is missing TIME.

Closer to the end, the script she wrote with memories of her grandmother makes vague references to childhood memories, but we are never shown anything. Her victory feels hollow because you only see her winning without seeing anything of the great story or strong feelings she put into them. We are TOLD she put her feelings into them, and we are TOLD she struggles with scripts, but we never SEE that. We don't even know anything about the plot of most of the things she writes, with one exception: The great story of 'Hana', I think it's called, with the showgirl ghost and the salarywoman, sounds fun. I wish we had seen a little more of it. Then we could understand why the play was so alluring and fascinating. All of the plays in this series are given about a page to show scenes from them.

This is my problem with the whole thing. Unlike other series about girls following their dreams, i.e. Glass Mask or Ingenuo, there is absolutely no detail put into the intricacies of the girls' chosen professions. As a result, the manga spends a lot of time telling about how tough things are without showing us the true difficulty. Similarly, we never see the wonderful things about the theater life, either.

The ending is disappointing for so many reasons:

Spoiler (mouse over to view)

Touya offers the script to Kazuma Rin without Yuu's permission, and says to go ahead and put on the play. He does this because he and Yuu need "rivals" to do their best. Apparently they don't have enough motivation just doing what they love. Furthermore, the fact that he gave the play away should have been a huge problem, because the problem of a stolen script and someone else doing the same show was a BIG problem earlier! There's no discussion, he just comes back and says "I did this, it should be okay with you." And she agrees! AGH!

And to top this off, the entire play which Yuu (and I) have been waiting for since the beginning of the manga lasts for what... a page? Two pages? And we don't even know what they did during practice! It's like the author wanted to write a drama about theater without knowing anything that actually goes into making theater! The manga is about a scriptwriter, but we never see stories! If this were a drama about dance, we'd be shown pages of astounding dance moves. If it were photography, we'd be shown scenery or touching Kodak moments. And so on.

A less important point is the clumsiness of the love issue. The second 'love interest' was introduced much too late. As a result, the love complications of Kina (the childhood friend)->Touya and the Kabuki guy->Yuu are never fully realized and the addition of these complications is pointless. The plotline with Kina and Touya's brother is never explained and you are left wondering what happened there and why Kina gave up so easily.

At the end,

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Yuu decides to follow Touya to England since apparently the Japanese think that true love does not persist over time and distance. Presumably she can study script-writing there. Oh yeah, too bad she has to learn English first, because England is not big on Japanese. And then she's just going to come back to Japan and write Japanese scripts again...

If I do have a moment of praise, it's that there's not too much unnecessary drama between Yuu and Touya. Their relationship grows and they share

Spoiler (mouse over to view)

a very natural kiss

and eventually work hard together. I can accept the unnaturalness of a normal girl falling in love with a star because this is shoujo manga, after all...